There is little I love more than a quality television show, except a quality television show with a diverse cast. 2015’s fall TV programming features a rare number of shows with Asian or Asian American leads, and I couldn't be more thrilled. I sat down and suffered my way through these shows (jk I had a bowl of snacks!) to bring you a roundup of some of the most promising shows featuring actors of Asian descent airing this fall.

Fresh Off the Boat is expanding on what it does best (ultra-specific family comedy with a dash of 90s nostalgia) in its second season. The first Asian-led ensemble cast since Margaret Cho’s All American Girl twenty years ago, Fresh off the Boat had high expectations placed upon it last season, including by its creator Eddie Huang. Based on his eponymous, hilarious (and misogynist!) memoir, Fresh Off The Boat follows one Chinese American family's move to Florida. Since Huang publicly trashed the show’s sanitized representation of his childhood, he's been booted from his voiceover position this season. Other changes since season one include Randall Park’s magically disappearing accent, Eddie’s acquisition of a perpetually top-buttoned plaid shirt, and an increase in Mandarin dialogue- I haven't heard this much Chinese on TV since I watched dubbed Korean soaps with my po po two Christmases ago, and I watch a lot of TV. Fresh off the Boat isn't the most daring or innovative show out right now, but it accurately presents Chinese Americans with a loving scrutiny and specificity, and Constance Wu’s constant scenery-chomping makes every episode worth a watch.

Dr. Ken is a new network TV sitcom featuring the considerable talents of Ken Jeong-- in fact, the titular character is based on Jeong’s doctor days, before he became better known as that crazy Asian guy from The Hangover or Community. In contrast to his previous performances, Dr. Ken is safe, tried-and-true American standard format television, complete with an overused laugh track. This isn't to say that Jeong isn't funny, or that seeing an Asian family represented as true leads sans accent on a prime time show isn't refreshing in the best ways. The first few episodes followed all-American plot lines like teens learning to drive and miming to Katy Perry’s Roar, but they lacked specificity, preferring instead to dwell in a generic format split between home and an office. Ultimately, the show seems unsure of what its point of view will be as it continues to develop. There are Asian jokes, sure, but unlike Fresh off the Boat, they seem to be at the expense of actors and viewers (sample joke: Ken Jeong speaks Korean. Cue laugh track.) It smacks slightly of Everybody Loves Raymond, which isn't a bad thing if you're everybody. Jeong and his cast deserve a more hard hitting show, though, and I'm hopeful that Dr. Ken will evolve into something more nuanced than its first episodes.

The Mindy Project recently moved from Fox to Hulu, and it's never been better. (Full disclosure: I tweeted that, The Mindy Project’s account favorited and replied with a gif so I'm basically famous, right!? Anyway.) Headed by accomplished showrunner/imaginary best friend Mindy Kaling, this comedy rarely takes on the Asian American identity in a meaningful way, but it does offer some of the best workplace comedy on television right now-- and in my opinion, ever. Mindy has finally gotten together with longtime paramour Danny Castellano, started her own fertility clinic, and become a mother. The fourth season of this rom com-inspired show (and yes, I'm squealing with glee while writing that phrase) continues the romance past the conventional happy ending, delving into the realities of the fictional Mindy’s life as a working mom. The supporting cast has never been stronger, the writing has never been sharper, and Chris Messina has never been cuter. Not even in Argo. The show is a serious bright spot for me every week, but lately it’s been filling the void Parenthood left: I don't want to give anything away, but the first episode gave me a serious case of the I'm-not-crying-you're-cryings.

Quantico, a new ABC drama starring the impossibly beautiful Priyanka Chopra, follows a group of prospective FBI agents in training. Its pilot opens with the debris of an explosion, a sweaty jog, then a sweaty airplane ride--but alas/hooray, no gritty realism here. Once in training, the agents’ first assignment is to discover each others’ secrets within twenty four hours. Intrigue! Mystery! Car sex! This show has so many elements of a Shonda Rhimes show, it's a few ellipses away from being a Gladiator monologue. Chopra plays biracial Alex Parrish, an FBI agent in training whose secret features guns and dads (told you this show was Rhimes-adjacent.) The first episodes left me with a few burning questions: who can we trust? Who is the mole? How do I artfully construct a messy bun that will stay in place through an explosion like Priyanka’s?! And, perhaps most importantly, what shade of lipstick is she wearing in the pilot?!? I need to keep watching to find out. I'm dead serious. This show is not, though, and I love it anyway. ​

KAELA: ​Hey Katrina! Can you introduce yourself and your work to our readers?

KATRINA: Hi, hello! I’m Katrina Day, a Brooklyn based actor/writer/cat lady. Since graduating from NYU back in 2012, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many young theater and film companies in the city on everything from immersive, site-specific retellings of Greek epics to campy musical cabarets about the history of world religion. But for the last year, my primary project has been Lady Parts (www.someladyparts.com)- a blog and webseries about sexism in entertainment as experienced by early career female actors. ​

KAELA: What was the impetus behind Lady Parts, the blog? What made you decide to write the webseries?

KATRINA: I launched SomeLadyParts.com as something of a Hail Mary pass, to be honest. I’d gotten to a point of such heightened frustration and disgust with all the sexist nonsense I was experiencing on the job that I couldn’t stand the idea of continuing to work in the entertainment industry unless it was possible to do so on my own terms. I started the blog to catalogue and make fun of the ridiculously offensive casting calls I came across on the daily, a move I was fairly convinced would either get me blacklisted across the industry or help me launch the career I’d always wanted. So far so good, though who knows if there’s a dartboard with my face on it in the Actors Access corporate offices.

I went on to write the Lady Parts webseries in order to address problematic aspects of the industry beyond the casting process. If the blog is collection of heinous casting notices, the webseries takes a look at what happens once you actually submit for one of those roles. I also didn’t want to remain on the sidelines, muttering snarky observations about media makers. I wanted to continue becoming a maker. Moving onto a webseries also gave me the opportunity to transform a one-woman project into a hundred-person operation. I was able to create work for other artists and learn an incredible amount about film production in the process.

KAELA: Auditioning and casting calls are often unkind in general and, as your blog and webseries has documented, especially difficult for actresses. Are there times you've felt a production team has gotten it right? What did they do in those cases?

KATRINA: I have absolutely worked with companies who have gotten it right every step of the way. Two projects in particular that I’ve worked on, Odd.A.See with The Exquisite Corpse Company and The Incredible Fox Sisters with Live Source, are perfect examples of how to create a respectful, fulfilling, feminist production. In both cases, the original casting calls were incredibly inclusive, with no parameters about attractiveness, race, age, etc. These casting notices described the characters I ended up playing with evocative character traits, not just physical traits. Both shows feature central, fully-formed female characters. Not love interests, not sex objects, but subjects in their own stories.

​ KAELA: Acting parts available to women are not only sexist and sparse, they're often compensated far less than their male counterparts, and creative leadership jobs for women (directing, producing, etc) face the same set of circumstances. Besides creating our own work, what do you think we women professionals can do to change the entertainment industry, especially in the independent/nonprofit arts sector? What can men do to advocate for us? Are they different things?

KATRINA: I think that people of all genders need to be committed to fostering true gender equality. One of the best things a person can do is acknowledge their privilege, whatever it may be, and figure out how to use it for good. Men can use their male privilege to advocate for fair and respectful treatment of their female coworkers (hay, Bradley Cooper). They can also understand that an equal playing field is actually beneficial to them. Equal representation makes for better work and working conditions. Because who really wants to work on a set that teeming with toxic masculinity?

For their part, women can also be aware of their own privilege—be it wrapped up in race, class, ability, or what have you—and make a point of being intersectional in their feminism. They can also make a point of raising up their female colleagues instead of undercutting them. Women are so obviously pitted against each other in this industry, and it’s easy to give into that sense of competition. But we’re not going to change anything by playing the game as it’s currently written—because we’re still set up to lose. Even if we get really good at scoring points in this field, it’s still a shitty game to be stuck playing forever. We have to pick up our balls (yes, our balls) and start our own game, with our own rules. If the mainstream entertainment industry doesn’t want to let us make work, we have to make our own.

​KAELA: Lady Parts got funded through an awesome (and organized!) crowdfunding campaign: I think funding is such an important and sometimes desperate part of creating work that artists don't always discuss. What role do you think funding should ideally have in the independent arts world? What role did funding have in the creation of Lady Parts? If you found a gap between the ideal and the actual, how would you fix it?

KATRINA: A lot of people are skittish about crowdfunding, because it does get a bad rap for being a “desperate” move. I went through the same round of insecurities as I was gearing up to launch our Kickstarter. But ultimately, I had to remind myself that I was asking people to help pay for something they’d expressed an interest in seeing. Having already established a following for the Lady Parts blog really helped with the crowdfunding efforts—not just because there were more people to pitch in, but because everyone who contributed already had a rich understanding of what our project was all about.

I actually think that crowdfunding is a pretty decent way to get started in the indie arts world. It frees you up to create exactly what you want, rather than answer to people who need to make a profit off your work. I’m glad we were able to create the first season on our own terms, with the help of people who cared deeply about the project. Hopefully, that head start will help us get funding for season two from a source other than our viewers. We were able to set a precedent with season one, to make something entirely on our terms. That’s not a bad spot to be in, all things considered.

KAELA: What series, movies, or books are you recommending and why?

KATRINA: I am constantly consuming media, so this list of recommendations might get a little unruly, but here goes.

Books: For the last few months, I’ve tearing through everything that Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have ever written. They are masters of world creation and such poignant, specific, sparingly-hilarious authors. The highlights of this reading spree have been White Teeth (Smith), The Blind Assassin (Atwood), and Americana (Adichie).

Movies: Some favorites I’ve happened upon this part year are Ida, Obvious Child, and Welcome to Me. Each is of a completely different style, but all feature incredible female characters dealing with Great Big Questions.

KAELA: We at 2 Girls | 1 Asian love food and drink as cultural and social centerpieces. What's the best meal you ever had? Where are your favorite places to go in New York?

​KATRINA: The best meal I’ve ever had was at Juuri, in Helsinki. They do Finnish small plates, their own take on tapas, and it was the bomb. My current favorite places in NYC are all clustered in Brooklyn, because I’m loathe to leave Ditmas Park if I don’t have to, but include The Castello Plan, The Farm on Adderly, and Speedy Romeo. There’s also an amazing Tibetan cafe right next to the Cortelyou Q stop that cannot go wrong, in my book.

KAELA: In the same vein, imagine you're throwing a dinner party for three feminist icons. Who are they, what will you discuss, and what will you serve?

KATRINA: OK. Guest list: Gloria Steinem, Malala Yousafzai, Virginia Woolf. Topics of conversation: how badass they are, obviously, but also how to influence change by high brow, low brow, and post-brow means. As for the menu—I would fly them all out to meet me in San Sebastian, where we’d get cozy at a hole-in-the-wall bar, and feast on as many pintxos and as much Txakoli as our hearts desired. Oh, and I’d be weeping with joy the whole time, just for the record.

KAELA: What advice would you give artists looking to create a webseries, blog, or online content in general?

KATRINA: Find the intersection of what you’re passionate about saying and what hasn’t been said yet. Plant your flag there and start waving it with all your might. Accept help from people who share your vision, and ask for help from people who know more than you. But also know when to say “no”, and accept the fact that you’re not going to be able to make everyone happy all the time. Indie filmmaking is scrappy work, and it’s not always going to be comfortable. And as for fear of waking the online trolls, which is a real concern with feminist content, rest easy in knowing that they’re just proving your point with every grunt and and wail of “not all men” or “go back to the kitchen”.

KAELA: You're a jack of all trades: we at 2g1a have seen you act, sing, write, direct and produce. What projects are you working on now, and how can we view your other work?

KATRINA: My current project is the world premiere of Jaclyn Backhaus and Live-Source’s The Incredible Fox Sisters at The New Ohio Theatre. We open on the October 30th and run for ten performances. I play Maggie Fox, one of the real-life founders of American Spiritualism. The play is a dark comedy that’s very near and dear to my heart. So come see that, for starters!

And as soon as I hang up my fox tail (Fox Tale?), I’m diving right back into writing the next batch of Lady Parts content. I don’t have a ton of specifics about Season Two yet, but it’s coming! Our first season has already been accepted into some web fests, so just keep an eye on the blog for information about our latest doings at Lady Parts. There’s a whole lot more we have to say.

KAELA: Thanks, Katrina, for all your wise insights (and restaurant recommendations!) To find out more, follow Katrina's blog at someladyparts.com, follow her on twitter (@someladyparts) and like this amazing project on facebook!

A collection of short stories, Monstress marks Tenorio's breakthrough in the literary world chronicling dark, twistingly funny, fictional events in the lives of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. Mixing high brow and low brow comedy, Monstress ultimately reveals the varying perspectives of the performance of identity in the modern world.

"The stories in Monstress announce the debut of an eclectic literary talent. Birlliantly quirky, often moving, always gorgeously told, these are tales of bighearted misfits who yearn for their authentic selves with extraordinary passion and grace." - Change-Rae Lee

Forgotten Country - Catherine Chung

​Weaving Korean folklore within a modern narrative of immigration and identity, Forgotten Country is a fierce exploration of the inevitability of loss, the conflict between obligation and freedom, and a family struggling to find its way out of silence and back to one another. - Google Review

"The unflinchingly honest examination of grief, anger, familial obligation, and love gives the novel a compelling emotional core."--The New Yorker

Justin Chin - MongrelIn a time when memoirs are often less than they claim to be and essays do not say enough, Justin Chin breaks onto the scene with a collection that is a combination of confession, tirade, journalism, and practical joke.

Mongrel is a cross-section of Chin's imagination and experiences that calls into question what it means to be an Asian-American in San Francisco, the effect your family will always have on you, and the role sexuality plays in your life. Whether it be Internet pornography or family history, Chin manages to dig deep and uncover not only the truths of everyday life, but also the absurdities that surround them.Mongrel is an exploration and distillation of the experiences and imagination of a gay Asian-American whose sensibilities were formed by the maelstrom of '80s American pop culture. A unique collection from a brash, funny new voice. - Google Books Review

Mindy Kaling - Why Not Me?

​Ever our favorite comedienne and writer, Mindy Kaling does it again with her new book Why Not Me? A funny, poignant, self-reflective page turner that makes you laugh until you cry and want to be her best friend. Again.

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who’s ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who’ve never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper. - Google Book Review

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan

​When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.

“Kevin Kwan gets it right in his debut novel steeped in love and dripping with money."--Daily Candy “Both a deliciously satiric read and a Fodor’s of sorts to the world of Singapore’s fabulously moneyed, both new and old.”--The Daily News “Jane Austen, or maybe Edith Wharton, goes to Singapore, turning in this lively, entertaining novel of manners.”--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Before Jeb Bush took center stage in the Republican race for the 2016 Republican Nomination, I did not identify as Asian-American.

I had never identified as Asian-American or had the interest in claiming that identity past an explanation of why my name didn’t match my face. I understood that I was a by product of a biracial marriage but I did not identify as Asian-American. I considered myself an American with Filipino heritage. My mother was from the Philippines, my grandfather was from the Philippines, my family was from the Philippines. I, Alexandra Kelly Colburn, was not from the Philippines.

Before Jeb Bush took center stage in the Republican race for the 2016 Republican Nomination, I did not identify as Asian-American but as an American with a mother from the Philippines.

I, Alexandra Kelly Colburn, was from America; Born and raised in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. where I had a wide range of friends with various ethnic backgrounds. It was the 90’s/early 2000’s; we were Liberals and we were post-racial. I rode horses, played the violin, listened to the hip-hop station, ate Filipino food, and participated in the Drama Club after school. My friends were from school, from horseback riding, and from the Drama Club. I was drawn to people who had similar interests as me and who liked to laugh as much as I did. I didn’t think in terms of color.

Before Jeb Bush took center stage in the Republican race for the 2016 Republican Nomination, I did not identify as Asian-American but as an American with a mother from the Philippines and I believed we lived in a post-racial America.

When I read that Jeb Bush had no remorse for using the term anchor babies, that he continues to maintain that Asians are the biggest perpetrators of “maternity tourism”, that he refuses to recant his statement because it is “true” - it made me angry. No, it didn’t make me angry: It made me furious. The guilt and indifference I vacillated between for the last twenty-six years was replaced by a deep-rooted anger towards racially insensitive politicians who don’t understand the social and cultural repercussions of their ignorance.

When Jeb Bush uses the word “anchor baby”, the rage I feel is unparalleled. Why? Because I think of my Mother and how she came to this country.

Prima Villanueva Esguerra came to this country as a Nurse with a work visa. She stood outside of the Philippine embassy every morning with the hopes of coming to America and when she did get here, it was because of her hard work and dedication. Her mother, Angela Villanueva Esguerra, was a businesswoman and the mother of nine. She raised my mother to study hard and encouraged her to follow her dream. My parents met at a New Year's Party in 1982 and when my father asked her to marry him in 1984, she didn’t say yes because it was an opportunity to get a greencard easily - she married him because she loved him and thought she could build a life with him. She even told my Dad she had to think about it and didn't say yes until a week later. She applied for citizenship in 1993 with my Lolo, housed family members as they transitioned from their life in the Philippines to their life in the States, and to this day sends money back home to help her family in their times of need.

So, Jeb Bush, don’t tell us to “take a step back and chill out” when you say that Asian people are “taking advantage [of] birthright citizenship”. Trying to justify your racism and cultural insensitivity by saying you are “immersed in the immigrant experience” because your wife is Latino in no way, shape, or form gives you the right to use derogatory and offensive terms. The term “anchor baby” offends us. It offends Asians, Latinos, and quite frankly, immigrants to this country regardless of their race or heritage.

Prima Villanueva Esguerra Colburn did not come to this country illegally to take advantage of birthright citizenship. Prima Colburn is Asian, specifically Filipino, and came to this country because the opportunities it presented were greater than what she could have accomplished back home. Do not invalidate her hard work and the sacrifices she made to make it in America. Nor those of her sisters, her nieces, or her cousins.

Before Jeb Bush took center stage in the Republican race for the 2016 Republican Nomination, I did not identify as Asian-American.

Now, today, I make a pledge to claim my heritage and take pride in my ethnic background. I am the child of a Filipino mother and an American father. I am an Asian-American woman in the Arts. I am an Asian-American Artist. I cannot sit idly by while men like Jeb Bush make wild generalizations about immigrants, perpetuate racism, and feign ignorance, dismissing the notion of political correctness. This is not the America my Mother came to and this is not the America I was raised in. I want to see an America in which my mother’s accomplishments are not diminished into one demeaning term. I want to recreate the America that my mother left for.

“This is the last place I saw my mother,” my grandmother told me, holding my hand. In March of 2005, my family traveled to China to see the homeland with my po-po, or maternal grandmother. At the moment, we were walking down the Long Corridor, a centuries-old covered walkway at Beijing’s Summer Palace. “I was a little older than you are now,” she continued, “and the Revolution was starting up. My sister was a member of the Red Guard, and she would tell anything she heard to the authorities. My mother couldn't talk openly to anyone at home, so we met here.”

My grandmother didn't speak of the Cultural Revolution or the Red Guard often, and we hadn't covered it in school. I gleaned most of my information from books I read. At nine or ten, I showed my po-po Red Scarf Girl, a memoir of a student who’d joined the Red Guard. The horrors author Ji-Li Jiang witnessed during the Cultural Revolution deeply affected me, and I wanted to share that with Po-Po. I was disappointed she couldn’t make it through the book. It wasn’t until later that I realized the emotions it might have brought up for her; I didn't realize the extent to which she'd lived through it.

It was through books again that I learned about what contributed to my grandmother’s flight from China: programs Chairman Mao implemented such as the Cultural Revolution. It was through books and oral history that I learned about the Sent-down Youth: 20 million Chinese students, including my mother’s cousin, were prohibited from attending university and instead sent to rural towns for their education. It was through books that I learned about the Mao-induced Great Famine, which killed 76 million Chinese citizens. In comparison, the tragic Irish Great Famine canonized in my history classes resulted in one million deaths. To my memory, we didn't cover modern Chinese history in my classes. Once the country was open to Westerners, once the Boxer Revolution paved the way for the republicanization of "the Orient," as it were, it seemed the curriculum stopped.

As a teenager, my grandmother was sent to study in Hong Kong at the nursing school where they eventually shot Love is A Many-Splendored Thing. She was about my age when she visited her family in mainland China, taking a walk with her mother down the Long Corridor just as I did in 2005. She was about my age when she took a boat from Hong Kong to San Francisco by herself. She was about my age when she cried as the boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Life in America presented its own set of challenges: my grandmother had spent her teenage years at essentially a boarding school. Breakfast was served in her room and other meals in the mess hall. Her nursing uniform was cleaned by the in-house staff. She once told me that when she first arrived to California, she used to put her clothes on the floor and hope that someone would come by and pick them up--the apple apparently doesn’t fall very far from the tree.

In the meantime, my grandfather, or gong-gong, came of age in Hong Kong as well. His family owned a jewelry store on the island. He and my grandmother must have been there at the same time, but they never met until the late 1950s, a world away in San Francisco. My po-po said their mutual friends knew she was interested in him when she would pose the question, sometimes even to her date for an event: "will David be attending?"

They married and my mother was born in June 1960, years after my grandmother had landed on American soil. My gong-gong taught my po-po to cook. He started a medical supply business, and my mother and uncles sometimes worked weekends packaging the equipment he sold. They put in the hard toil that’s inherent in the American dream. When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother returned to nursing to support her three children, then started her own real estate business, which is still operating in the Bay Area to this day.

On August 24, 2015, presidential candidate Jeb Bush clarified his stance on using the derogatory term “anchor babies.” It wasn’t meant to offend “the Hispanic vote” he’s worked so hard to gain, he said. “Frankly,” he continued, “it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children in that organized efforts, taking advantage of a noble concept with birthright citizenship...Nothing about what I’ve said should be viewed as derogatory towards immigrants at all.”

Just three days later, presidential candidate Donald Trump put on a Mickey Rooney-worthy “Asian” accent when discussing foreign policy with China and Japan in Iowa. “When these people walk in the room, they don’t say, ‘Oh, hello! How’s the weather? It’s so beautiful outside. Isn’t it lovely?’” he observed. “They say, ‘We want deal!’” His comments were greeted with laughter. He went on to lambast Bush’s position on birth tourism and its connection to Asian American immigrants on Twitter, but would not back down from his position to deny illegal immigrants’ children birthright citizenship.

I have never particularly concerned myself with the race for the Republican presidential nomination, though I watched the first debate hosted on Fox News during which the candidates spouted a volume of homophobic, xenophobic, racist and misogynistic nonsense. The current two frontrunners for the party, though, have proven themselves to not only misunderstand America but to parrot the same incorrect assumptions about Asian immigrants which have plagued our population since before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 2015’s presidential race has had little to no coverage of issues pertaining to Asian Americans; this first stab at it is disappointing, to say the least.

As Jenn at Reappropriate wrote, “based on sheer numbers alone birth tourism is not a major contributing factor to the undocumented immigrant population in the United States or elsewhere in the world.” In fact, spending time discussing the issue at all detracts from more pressing immigrant rights discussions or domestic policies. Birth tourism, the phenomenon to which Jeb Bush alluded in his statement, produces somewhere between 36 and 70 thousand children born in America annually; there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country as a whole.

Erroneously weighted as they may be, Bush and Trump’s “anchor baby” stances bring to light a more important truth. In reaction to their comments, writer Jason Fong created #MyAsianAmericanStory, a hashtag movement in which thousands of users shared their families’ stories of immigration, discrimination and involvement in US politics. The value of Twitter politics are often hotly debated, but there’s no question that the internet offers a voice those historically silenced, discounted, or ignored. For me, that possibility is powerful. With no real place to share our history in our country’s curriculum or media, online resources are intrinsic to making connections within the wide diaspora of “Asian America.” How else would I have learned about Daniel Wu, who at his first election at eighteen years old was stopped by the question, “Do you know you have to be American to vote?” Or Bruce Reyes- Chow, whose Chinese American soldier grandfather was told he might get shot because he looked Japanese? Or even Kristina Wong, one of my favorite performance artists whose work combatting mental illness in the Asian American community is too important to gloss over in one sentence? (Check out her work!)

I count Jeb Bush and Donald Trump’s comments as a favor: perhaps like Trump's opinions on the Latinx community, the open racism towards our community will sway Asian American voters, 45% of which are not affiliated with any political party. As Alton at Unhyphenate writes, ours is “the fastest growing immigrant population, fastest growing electorate, fastest growing undocumented immigrant population, and ...an increasingly unified voting bloc.” When my grandmother told me her about last encounter with her mother in Beijing, I hadn’t yet learned how to deal with strangers that would ask rude questions about my heritage. I hadn’t learned about any of the Asian American history I’ve since discovered mostly via the internet. The creation of 2 Girls | 1 Asian was aimed to tell the story of female friendship, but also to elaborate on the Asian American experience in ways that aren’t currently represented by mainstream media. With any luck, Bush and Trump’s stances will continue to encourage us to share our experiences and to cast our votes for someone who has all of America’s best interests at heart.

KAELA GARVIN and KELLY COLBURN, the comedy duo behind your new favorite webseries, 2 Girls | 1 Asian, are back and better than ever. After a brief hiatus, the hapas are returning to youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and twitter to bring you

3 brand new holiday themed episodes to get you through the season!

What have these ladies been up to since you saw them last?

KAELA wrote, produced, and starred in Corner’s Grove, a play inspired by Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, won the Planet Connections Festivity Best Featured Actress award for said show, and started working at Blue Man Group on the Wardrobe Crew!

KELLY assistant directed the short film Chocolates For Sale, stage managed Theater Mitu's Juárez: A Documentary Mythology in San Francisco, and left her position as a Video Operator at Blue Man to pursue a Master’s Degree at the University of Maryland for Projections & Multimedia Design!

Okay, enough with the life achievements -

What’s happening with 2 Girls | 1 Asian?!

If you thought the girls couldn’t get themselves into even more trouble than Season One -

Think again.

In this hilarious and wacky Midseason, Caela and Kelliye rack up another list of embarrassing and ridiculous situations that include dabbling in the occult, hitting on plumbers in the privacy of their own home, and ascetic stoned holiday debauchery that only brings the two girls and their four closest friends closer, which we’re not convinced is a bad thing. We let you decide.

Stay tuned for more info on this season and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

This morning I had an unfortunate experience on the Manhattan-bound R Train. A seat became available at Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and anyone who’s lived in New York for longer than 5 minutes knows that nabbing a seat during Rush Hour is prime real estate. The two vying for this particular seat? An older Asian woman and a teenage Latina girl. As the Asian woman raced to nab the empty seat next to me, the teenage girl (who happened to be closer) managed to sit to there first. Generally, the one who gets to the seat first usually puts their head down in shame, feigns indifference, or tries to hide a victorious grin on their face as soon as they’ve touched their ass to the seat but in this unfortunate case the girl began making fun of the woman who lost the seat. Shaking her finger in a condescending manner and mimicking an “Asian” accent she said, "No running! No running!". This elicited an uproar of laughter from her friends standing by the doors and the teenage girl soon joined. The woman who lost the seat didn’t say anything, she just went back to where she was standing above her three kids as the girl and her friends chastised themselves for not recording the incident and putting it on youtube because, “That shit was too funny!” It seemed as though the woman didn’t speak English or didn’t understand it very well because her eldest child, a girl of about fifteen (probably the same age as the teenage girl who raced to grab the empty seat) just shook her head when her mother asked what the girl had said to her.

I stood there in the middle of it all debating whether or not I should apologize to the mistreated woman on behalf of the rude girl and her friends or school that rude young woman to teach her a thing or two about respecting her elders. Or the consequences of perpetuating stereotypes. Or the consequences of being a rude little bitch…

Instead of choosing I stood there frozen, unsure if it was my place to do either.

If I apologized to the mother, what good would it have done? All I would be doing is admitting that I saw that she was mistreated and I failed to do something about it. If I schooled that rude ass girl about the importance of respecting her elders I would be doing her parents’ job and treading on dangerous territory. Should I have brought up the importance of minorities banding together to eliminate stereotypes? If I had spoken to her in the first place, would she have understood why or how she was wrong by making fun of that woman? Would she have understood that not only is she disrespecting an elder, another minority, but she’s also disrespecting another woman?

Instead of choosing I stood there frozen, unsure if it was my place to do anything.

For the next 7 minutes as the train rattled over The Manhattan Bridge all I did was stare off into space and silently fume. I fought with myself over the right thing to do and as I wasted time weighing out all my options, the teenage girl and her friends got off at Canal Street and my opportunity lost amidst their cackling.

I’d like to think I have the pleasure of living off the last stop on the R Train and that I get to live in a neighborhood that is populated with family owned businesses, gardens, schools, and people of all races and colors. I’d like to think that I’m lucky to take the R train to and from Manhattan because the diversity of my morning commute is compelling. I’d very much like to think that.

Unfortunately, it’s not always the case. Unfortunately this 38 minute train ride has only opened my eyes to the way people mistreat each other. At this point, I refuse to describe it as mistreatment - it is an injustice. It has opened my eyes up to the injustices, little and large, minorities commit against each other. It has opened my eyes up to the fact that as an ethnically diverse woman I am caught between my conscience and my indifference.

Judging by the way the teenage girl engaged whole-heartedly in making fun of this woman with her friends I can only assume she had no clue. No fucking clue. No fucking clue that her actions were more malicious and demeaning than light-hearted and funny. No fucking clue that as a teenage girl, as a Latina, she is just as susceptible to injustice as me, that woman standing two seats away, or any other ethnic women on that train. No fucking clue that her mother and father may have endured the same shit she gave to that woman she stole the seat from. She has no fucking clue that her words sting in my gut when I think about the history of racism against people of color (black, brown, or yellow) and how the hate from the majority makes me, my people, and my people’s people hate each other and hate themselves. It makes my head swim with “what if’s?” and “why’s?” and “how could she’s?” And when I turn the questions inward I find myself ashamed that I have no answers to “What if I had spoken up? Why didn’t I speak up? How could I not have spoken up?”

As the train rattled along the subway line and the family got off at Prince Street, I stared at that rude young girl - that rude young woman - and made a vow to myself that next time I would stand up, speak up, and take action with grace, humility, and good intent on my side. This world is too big and too beautiful to allow small acts like these to happen and to be ignored. Between races, between generations, and between women.

Will you hold me to that? Will you hold yourself to that? Let’s make this world a better place by clearing our consciences and standing up for what is right and not what is easy.

Yes, I stole that from Harry Potter - doesn’t make it any less potent or immediate.

1. Cafe Noodle ZenNestled in between an Irish Pub and a tattoo parlor (just a few doors down from St. Marks Burgers) this is the cute, little, neon green Japanese place on St. Marks that offers 50% off ALL Sushi and basically has Happy Hour whenever you want it. We went here the other day with a mutual friend and ordered an appetizer, least 5 different kinds of sushi, 2 very strong drinks, AND (new addition to the menu) a Ramen Burger all for $60! (Added a 20% tip on top because the staff are also ridiculously nice.)Located at 31 St. Mark’s Place, New York, NY 10003

2. JeepneyTHE MOST IMPORTANT THING WORTH NOTING ABOUT JEEPNEY IS KAMAYAN NIGHT. Kamayan Night. Every Wednesday and Thursday (make sure you make a reservation) you get the opportunity to properly eat like a Filipino.The word kamayan refers to shaking hands but is simultaneously used to describe eating with your hands - a Philippine tradition. For $40, a huge plank the size of two 2-tops covered in palm leaves is served with… well, we don’t think we can describe it all, so we’ve borrowed this description from NYC Food Guy: “Our server carefully placed a whole fried fish in the center of the long white mound of coconut milk-flavored rice. Spreading out from both sides of the fish, he symmetrically placed chicken, smoked soft boiled eggs, two kinds of pork (one in a coconut milk gravy, one marinated in Coca-Cola), sweet longanisa sausage, sauteed bok choy, bitter melon salad, piles of fried tripe and fried bread, and grilled green onions...It was at this point that I snapped a few quick photos because as soon as I put that iPhone down, it was time to eat. With only my hands. For about 30 minutes straight.” See above for pictures from NYC Food Guy and his full review here.Located at 201 1st. Ave. New York, NY 10003

3. MaharlikaNext door to Jeepney is its sister restaurant, Maharlika, another gem of the East Village. Maharlika’s Dinner Menu is to die for with Filipino Favorites such as Pancit Bihon, Sinigang, and Kare-Kare (it even has balut for those of you who love it or dare to try it), and the Brunch Menu full of hearty and delicious items such as Longanisa, Tocino, and the Dasilog, but what is definitely worth mentioning is the Flip’d Chicken and Waffle on the Brunch Menu! Batterless fried chicken served on top of a purple yam waffle, with anchovy-bagoong sauce and macapuno syrup to start your Saturday morning off right. Affordable and delicious.Located at 111 1st. Ave. New York, NY 10003

4. Grill 21Just found this fun little place on 21st between 1st and 2nd Avenue just North of Stuytown. This Filipino restaurant boasts of fresh bitter melons, juicy adobo, and refreshing halo-halo! Everything on the menu is easily affordable (nothing on the menu is more than $17) and there’s outdoor seating for the summer! Also, they cater. Because they know how Filipinos love to eat and share.Located at 346 E. 21st St. New York. NY 10010

5. Pig & KhaoAmazing Asian Fusion gem on the Lower East Side that offers primarily Thai and Filipino food options. What first caught Kelly’s eye was that they offer chicharron as the first item for appetizers (and really, is there anything better than fried pork rinds and vinegar on the side to start off a meal?) There’s also pork belly adobo - perfectly crispy on the outside and deliciously juicy on the inside. It is a Lower East Side restaurant with great food, a small space, and loud customers - so expect a wait. But you won’t be disappointed!Located at 68 Clinton St. New York, NY 10002

6. Vanessa’s DumplingsThis Union Square staple is home to one of the best deals in town: $1 for four dumplings. Other highlights include $3 Peking Duck-stuffed sesame pancakes, bubble tea, and a small assortment of sushi. Vanessa’s also sells frozen dumplings so you can eat these in the comfort of your own home! Located at 220 E 14th St, New York, NY 10003.

7. Congee VillageThere’s nothing that says home to Kaela like a warm bowl of zhook, also known as congee or rice porridge. This comfort food is showcased at Congee Village on the Lower East Side-- along with youtiao (Chinese donuts) and amazing Chinese-American-restaurant style decor (indoor trees! weird lighting! neon!)Located at 100 Allen Street New York, NY 10002.

8. Pho BangCraving Vietnamese noodle soup? There are few better places than Pho Bang, a little Vietnamese hole-in-the wall in Little Italy. You can buy a huge bowl of pho for $6.50 ($7.50 if you upgrade to the large size!), and they also have good Vietnamese coffee.Located at 157 Mott St New York, NY 10013

9. Central BuffetWe won’t lie; we had to Google search real hard for the name on this one: Central Buffet is a hidden Chinatown gem that will give you five delicious selections of dishes to go, including rice, for four dollars. $4.25 will get you the same amount of food to eat in. The rotating selection features tea eggs, whole fish, bean curd dishes, an assortment of vegetables, and even dessert. Kaela has been frequenting for five years, so she’s a more than little sad to divulge this information to the public. Located at 195 Centre St New York, NY 10013

10. Fay Da BakeryThis Chinese bakery, featured in Episode 3: “Eviction,” is one of Kaela’s favorite places to get cha siu bao, or barbecue pork buns. In fact, Fay Da carries all kinds of baked goods, from coconut cream buns to hot dog buns and back-- and with most of them priced at under one dollar, you can’t lose. Located at 191 Centre St New York, NY 10013 (right next to Central Buffet, above!). Other locations throughout Chinatown, SoHo and Queens.

A while back, I end up on a first date at this comedy club on Bleecker Street in New York’s West Village. In an odd turn of events, comedian after straight white dude comedian gets up to explain how he definitely doesn’t hate “the gays,” holding for the audience to applaud his halfway-decent actions. One such comedian, so un-homophobic it almost hurts, segues from the subject of gay-marrieds (“they’re totally fine by me, dude!”) into his own recent marriage. “Marriage is stupid because having sex is like trying ice cream, dude,” says he. “See, my wife is vanilla-flavored ice cream. I love vanilla. I’m totally happy with vanilla. But what happens if, theoretically, twenty years from now, I want to try another flavor of ice cream? Say, Asian?”

If you’re reading this, Anonymous Comic, I’m not sorry for the dirty look I shoot as you retreat to your lone seat. First of all, there’s got to be a funnier metaphor for having sex than “trying ice cream, dude.” Secondly, not to be cruel, but it’s pretty clear why you showed up sans wife to your set. I’m guessing--hoping--that your wife would take issue with your material: first at being literally objectified into ice cream, then at being deemed “vanilla.” Can’t a white girl at least be peach flavored? But hey man, at least you totally definitely don’t hate the gays cause you're such a Stand Up Guy (cue snare drum)(cue applause at what a great guy you are.)

The reason that bad comedian’s bad joke bothers me so much? It is based on a reality I live in, but it only perpetuates the stereotypes I see in the world instead of turning them on their head. When first researching this series, I google image searched the word “half-Asian.” What returned was page after page of scantily-clad mixed-race Asian ladies. I was dismayed to find that with no modifiers signifying gender or sex, I was still served a full plate of adult images featuring female breasts, thighs, abdomens, as if every half-Asian is a woman, as if every half-Asian woman is perpetually in a state of undress, as if half-Asian women are solely meant to be consumed. Now, I’m no Puritan. I support everyone’s right to be photographed in a thong! But with its passive voice, even that last sentence implies the photographee as object-- not inherently problematic, but frequently so.

“Asian” is one of the most-searched porn terms in America, as if race was, indeed, a sexual ice cream flavor that one could try. This fetishization of Asian peoples, particularly women, has its roots in Orientalism and colonization. It finds its base in the obsession with the other, with the unknown, which, again, is not inherently wrong; it simply leads to debasing and dehumanizing patterns of interpersonal behavior, some of which are chronicled in Kristina Wong’s awesome xoJane article.

We wrote about some of this in episode 2 of our series, “What Are You?,” an almost-verbatim recreation of a night when two grown men approached Kelly and me with the titular question of that episode. They insisted on guessing our ethnic makeup, an interesting tactic that, unlike the Bend and Snap, has a 0% rate of return on a dinner invitation because it’s seldom used appropriately. I don’t necessarily mind being defined by my race, but may object when my race solely defines me, or worse, solely defines my desirability.Our series name, 2 Girls | 1 Asian, is a racial equation which describes my co-creator and I in light of the ever-present “what are you?” My co-creator Kelly Colburn and I are each half-Asian; together, there is one whole Asian between us. Our title is meant to add us together, to place us in light of our friendship, something unfortunately rare in current mainstream media. Together as 2 Girls | 1 Asian we are better than our individual parts. (Unless you put us in a bar; then we’re just drunker than our individual parts.) As some have inquired, our title is also a double-entendre, referencing an infamous and, from what I understand, less than savory (sorry!) pornographic video. But contrary to what our spoof title may suggest, the actual content of our series is fairly PG-rated and fairly feminist. Kelliye and Caela are portrayed with regards to their relationships and their accomplishments (or lack thereof) rather than their sexploits or sex appeal. They audition together, they drink together, they wait tables together and, as you'll see in the upcoming Episode 6: "Model Minority," they eat kale chips together.

With our title, we ultimately hope to address the most important part of the show: our friendship. Along the way, we hope it is a reclamation and lampoon of the excessive sexualization of mixed-race women, particularly women of Asian descent. If you can’t beat ‘em, parody ‘em, right? Because making this webseries, at least for me, is like eating ice cream-- the further I get into it, the happier I am with the choice I made.

A few weeks ago, we shared our ten favorite female hapa celebs with you. In the spirit of gender equity and equal objectification, we now present to you our ten favorite male hapa celebs!

Nathan Adrian

Adrian is a three-time Olympic gold medalist who first debuted his banging body and 6’6’’ frame at the 2008 Summer Olympics. With abs like that and those beautiful Asian eyes... How can we resist? And who ever heard of an Asian taller than 5'7''? (jk jk jk jk..... not jk.)

Darren Criss

Criss is one of our favorite Hollywood heartthrobs who first graced us with his presence to international acclaim starring as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical. But more likely, you know him from Glee.

Ian Anthony Dale

Dale has worked steadily as an actor in film and tv over the years. We know him best for his slicked back hair and undeniable mafioso charm as Ken Jeong's notoriously good-looking sidekick in The Hangover, but you may recognize those Asian eyes and American smile from TV shows like Charmed, The Event, CSI and Hawaii Five-0.

Daniel Henney

Daniel Henney is an actor/model-- you may recognize him from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Last Stand, or your dreams.

Keanu Reeves

We love Keanu! From Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures to The Matrix to his standout turn in Emma Thompson+Kenneth Branaugh’s Much Ado About Nothing, Keanu can do no wrong. And just look at that face.

Mark Dacasacos

What do we admire more in Mark Dacasacos: his martial arts film career (including a movie literally titled Dim Sum) or his stint as the Chairman on Iron Chef? Whatever, we’re not choosing.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

~*~*Omg wHo kNeW ZaCk MoRrIs WaS AzN!?*~*~

﻿Apolo Anton Ohno﻿

Eight-time Olympic medalist Apollo Ohno is a national treasure, both in speed skating and in looks. And Kaela once saw a segment where he did yoga with Gracie Gold and he was good at that too. #Sochi2014

Carey Fukunaga

The director of HBO's True Detective, Carey Fukunaga has both brains and beauty.

Tyson Beckford﻿

We'll just leave this picture of Jamaican-Panamanian-Chinese model Tyson Beckford using chopsticks here. Don't bite your lip at us in that seductive way, Tyson! Ok. Do.